More In Your Life

New Sussex Symphony sets family concert

GERALD TEDESCO

MARK HONTZ

KIMBERLY LOVE

Posted: Mar. 8, 2018 10:20 am

SPARTA -- The New Sussex Symphony announces its program for its upcoming annual family concert, featuring guest conductor, Gerald Tedesco from the Sussex County Youth Orchestra. The March 10 event starts at 3 p.m., at Sparta High School on West Mountain Road in Sparta.

More than 100 student musicians from Sparta, Vernon and the Crescendo Suzuki Studio will be made honorary orchestra members for the day. Repertoire will include music from "Pirates of the Caribbean," "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" by Dukas and J.C. Bach's "Concerto for Viola in C minor." The concert will conclude with well-known Suzuki tunes and Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King," featuring the orchestra and student musicians performing together in a rousing finale.

Guest conductor, Gerald Tedesco, holds a master's degree in trumpet performance from the Juilliard School of Music. He has been active in the tri-state area for the last 40 years as a freelance musician performing for Tony Bennett, Warren Covington, Ringling Brothers Circus, Ice Capades and the New Glenn Miller and Jimmy Dorsey Bands. He has participated in two national tours of Broadway shows and has traveled to China in 1997 on a State Department tour as cornet soloist with the Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Brass Band. He was associated with the New Jersey Pops Symphony Orchestra as a trumpeter and associate conductor for 20 years and could also be seen for many seasons conducting the Spirit of America Orchestra at the Karen Ann Quinlan Benefit Concerts.

Tedesco has often guest conducted premier New Jersey educational groups including the All North Jersey Area Band, Region 1 Symphonic Band, Region 1 Jr. High Band, and the All State Jazz Ensemble. He has also served as guest conductor for the All Sussex County Band on three occasions. On the local level, Tedesco divides his time between conducting and performance. He performs with the Water Gap Singers, the Morris Choral Society, and is presently the principal trumpet for the Garden State Opera Company. He has been the conductor of the Sussex County Youth Orchestra for 24 years. With that group, he has given conducting and performance debuts in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Vienna Koncert Haus, Smetana Hall, and the Beijing Conservatory. For the last nine years, Tedesco has also worked for Rutgers University as an educational consultant and student teacher supervisor. He lives in the Forest Lakes section of Byram with his wife, Dawn.

Viola soloist Kimberly Love is a sophomore attending Parsippany Hills High School. Love studies with Aimee Morrill Briant in the Crescendo Suzuki Studio and has been studying violin since the age of 3. She began playing viola in the sixth grade and soon after started playing with the New Sussex Symphony along with her mom. She has also been a part of the North Jersey Region Orchestra and plays in the pit for her school musicals.

Love attends the Kinhaven Music School during the summer. She often plays at her church, Grace Episcopal in Madison. She also sings in the choir there, as well as in the Harmonium Choral Society. She enjoys participating in her school marching band on mellophone and playing French horn in the school Wind Ensemble.

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice," abbreviated and adapted, with narration by Maestro Classics, will feature narrator Mark Hontz, an elder law and estate planning and administration attorney in Newton. Hontz is the lay leader and Administrative Council chair of the First United Methodist Church of Newton, where he and his family are active members.

Children 5 and under attend for free when accompanied by an adult. Ticket prices are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and students. Although tickets may be purchased at the door, advance purchase is recommended due to anticipated high turnout. Tickets are available at the Bill Wright School of Music in Sparta, Sussex County Arts & Heritage Council in Newton or by calling 973-579-6465. In the event of inclement weather, the concert will take place on Sunday, March 11.

Funding has been made available in part by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, through the State/County Partnership Block Grant Program, as administered by the Sussex County Arts and Heritage Council and supported by the Sussex County Board of Chosen Freeholders.

The New Sussex Symphony was founded in 1959. Concert repertoire extends over four centuries, from the early 1700s to contemporary music. In addition to the formal concert series, the symphony acts as a resource to the county's musical community.

To learn more about how members of the community can support the New Sussex Symphony and its youth Legacy Fund Scholarship, or to learn more about performances and other community involvement, contact Melinda McCoy-Miller at 973-579-6465 or e-mail at nssnj@ptd.net. You can also visit www.newsussexsymphonynj.org. Advertising and sponsorship opportunities are also available.